Blockchain’s potential can only be realized when value is freely shared between parties for commercial and utility purposes. If this doesn’t occur or occurs only to a limited degree, blockchain can only make a little difference to the world.
It is not a surprise that people are holding back crypto usage. A recent study finds that a majority of crypto owners rarely use them in making transactions, and there are a number of reasons why people are storing instead of using.
Research by the Foundation for Interwallet Operability (FIO) which is a consortium for crypto exchanges, wallets, and payment processors, conducted research targeting over 200 crypto owners as respondents. Interviewers asked multiple questions regarding crypto transactions in an effort to shed light over the issues that hold back crypto usage.
The Findings Of The Report
According to the findings, only a third of users (30%) transferred coin(s) to alternative accounts or to third parties at least once monthly. 43% of respondents made a crypto transaction, either by making a purchase or sending coins to other parties in the entire year. 27% didn’t transact, even once. Judging by these statistics, 70% of crypto holders rarely transacted or used crypto for making any type of payment with it.
The same research found that 13% of owners didn’t use wallets that stored their private keys. When it came to the diversification of digital asset portfolios, half of the respondent held one to five cryptocurrencies. A quarter of the respondents held 6 to 10 different coins and a tenth of the respondents held over 20 different coins.
Afraid To Trade?
The fact that people aren’t using crypto for payments betrays their nervousness and lack of confidence in cryptocurrencies at least at this stage. The study went into the details on their reservations in using crypto. It found out that only a quarter of the users who sent crypto to third parties were very comfortable doing so. The majority, (58%) felt optimistic but were very cautious about sending.
The remaining percentage of respondents who engaged in crypto transactions were anxious to some level with some reportedly very nervous of the transaction going wrong. The report, however, adds that the sensation comes to pass as they transacted more and grew confident in the system. An average of 40% of users who had reportedly acquired their first crypto over 3 years ago expressed their confidence in crypto transactions. Only 21% of users with under 3 years of crypto acquisition felt the same.
Challenges Crypto Users Face
Respondents were also asked to freely share other challenges they might have faced in their crypto experience.
Some had issues with transaction fees. They observed that when networks were clogged, it made it difficult to transact. Long confirmation time seemed to unnerve respondents. Some respondents added that transaction delays had them worried that the transaction had been rejected. This problem would be solved once the fee was adjusted upwards.
Another major issue addressed in the study regarded public addresses and wallets. Users were constantly worried that there was no mechanism for verifying destination addresses. The majority was worried of deleting letters in the addresses and end up sending to wrong addresses. Other users experienced incompatible addresses and wallet bugs.
The industry is still at its early development stages. And it’s understandable that users are still reserved on the idea of using crypto to transact. It’s a struggle to change the current status quo but with time, people will grow confidence and join the crypto craze.